[Solved] Tasks running before they are launched? ...How?

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markfilipak
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[Solved] Tasks running before they are launched? ...How?

Post by markfilipak »

=== Solution ===

I used 'Synaptic' to remove everything having to do with 'Compiz'. The performance improvement was dramatic.

=== End of Solution ===

Task Manager shows tasks that shouldn't be running. They are on the 'Panel' as 'Launcher' clients: 'Customize Panel', 'Task Manager', 'Removable Drive and Media', 'Screenshot', and 'Catfish File Search'.

I 'Terminate'd them okay, but what were they doing there? After 'Terminate'ing them, I launched them just to make sure they would run, and they were all okay. But what were they doing running as tasks before I launched them?

Is this is bug in 'xfce4-taskmanager'? or in 'launcher-6'? or are tasks put on 'Launcher' pre-loaded?

I'm having a very-slow system phenomenon and I'm trying to figure out why. Also, I a Linux newbie.

All Help appreciated,
Mark.
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 3 times in total.
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richyrich

Re: Tasks running before they are launched? ...How?

Post by richyrich »

If it is not installed, install and run htop. It will be in the System Menu. Launch it and let it run while you are doing your normal stuff, and frequently switch to it and take a look, the process(es) which is/are eating up the most resources will rise to the top.
Report back if you like . . :)
RichardH

Re: Tasks running before they are launched? ...How?

Post by RichardH »

Is this is bug in 'xfce4-taskmanager'? or in 'launcher-6'? or are tasks put on 'Launcher' pre-loaded?
If you started xfce4-taskmanager and then closed it, it stays in the task bar tray as an icon. To actually remove it, right click the icon and exit it.

I don't remember about the others, but if you had started them at one time, then exited/restarted with the "Save sessions for future logins" button checked, then they will be loaded at each boot up.
markfilipak
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Re: Tasks running before they are launched? ...How?

Post by markfilipak »

Thank you so much, Richy. I'm running 'htop' now. It does supply more info than does 'Task Manager', but not much more. I see that right-click freezes the update. Is there any way to copy the display to the clipboard?

Thank you so much, Richard. May I ask more?

What's a "task bar tray"? Do you mean 'Panel'? or is "Panel" just the name of the configuration application? As I look at 'Panel' > 'Items', I see: 'Whisker Menu' & 'Window Buttons'. That is all. I see no "task bar" and no "task bar tray". There was other stuff in 'Panel', but I removed them. However, none of the removed stuff was labeled "task bar". I suspect you are using the name from MS Windows and I don't mean to be dense, but I'm somewhat mystified.

Problem: XFCE is sluggish.

'Task Manager' indicates that 'Firefox' is a CPU-hog, but I'm addressing that separately.

Setup:
2.4 GHz, 4 CPU cores (Lenovo V570, Intel i5-2430M CPU)
VirtualBox 4.3.20
- Host: Win7 Home Premium, 64-bit
- Guest: Linux Mint 17.1 + XFCE 4.10.1, 64-bit (allocated 100% of 2 CPU cores)
Mint should be flying, but it's walking (and sometimes crawling).

Task Manager shows 148 tasks running.
Many appear to simply be daemons to launch applications that I might (or might not) run, like screenshot. I want to get rid of as many of those sorts of things as possible. Since the shell doesn't have such things as 'xscreensaver -no-splash' built in, I assume that the entry in 'Task Manager' is a service (daemon). I disabled screensaver so I don't understand why it would show up as a running task.
For example, one task is 'Thunar --xm-client-id 2f80a0943-f088-4694-81b7-cf134ab51d1d --daemon', which is eating 6 Mi-bytes! I don't even run 'Thunar'.

How can I get control of this stuff? In Windows there's Mark Russinovich's & Bryce Cogswell's 'Sysinternals' suite of system state & diagnostic utilities. Is there anything like that for Linux?

I have many more questions/observations, but I don't want to flood you.

Thanks again,
Mark.
RichardH

Re: Tasks running before they are launched? ...How?

Post by RichardH »

markfilipak wrote:Thank you so much, Richy. I'm running 'htop' now. It does supply more info than does 'Task Manager', but not much more. I see that right-click freezes the update. Is there any way to copy the display to the clipboard?
No, doesn't seem to be available. Cut'n'Paste doesn't work in Task Manager either. Right click on the app you want to stop and try Terminate. Htop is probably just an old habit. It uses fewer resources than the GUI. :)
What's a "task bar tray"?
It's called a "Notification Area" in the panel -- on the right originally, mine is on the bottom left. Mine has the Update Manager in the Notification Area.
Panel Preferences is handy. Click on the panel > Panel > Panel Preferences > Items.
From there you can see all the gadgets on the panel. Sometimes easier than working on the Panel itself. YMMV.
Problem: XFCE is sluggish.
'Task Manager' indicates that 'Firefox' is a CPU-hog, but I'm addressing that separately.
Setup: 2.4 GHz, 4 CPU cores (Lenovo V570, Intel i5-2430M CPU)
VirtualBox 4.3.20
- Host: Win7 Home Premium, 64-bit
- Guest: Linux Mint 17.1 + XFCE 4.10.1, 64-bit (allocated 100% of 2 CPU cores)
Mint should be flying, but it's walking (and sometimes crawling).

Task Manager shows 148 tasks running.
I like Chrome but browsers are a personal choice.
I only have 2 cores to work with, but it's always seemed to me that Vbox is more critical to memory --minimum 512MiB, better with 1GiB. I haven't run LMint in Vbox for a while, only in Qemu just for a quick look.
Many appear to simply be daemons to launch applications that I might (or might not) run, like screenshot. I want to get rid of as many of those sorts of things as possible. Since the shell doesn't have such things as 'xscreensaver -no-splash' built in, I assume that the entry in 'Task Manager' is a service (daemon). I disabled screensaver so I don't understand why it would show up as a running task.
There are a few things that you might not need. Look in Settings > Window Manager Tweaks and turn off Compositing,
Then check Settings > Session & Startup. There are several things that could be unchecked and give better performance ini Vbox.
Make notes so you can turn it back on if it breaks something.
For example, one task is 'Thunar --xm-client-id 2f80a0943-f088-4694-81b7-cf134ab51d1d --daemon', which is eating 6 Mi-bytes! I don't even run 'Thunar'.
Well Thunar is handy for lots of things, mounting, as well as general file manager. I leave it running. Turning off all the things that add eye-candy usually reduces the load on the CPU without breaking other features.
How can I get control of this stuff? In Windows there's Mark Russinovich's & Bryce Cogswell's 'Sysinternals' suite of system state & diagnostic utilities. Is there anything like that for Linux?

I have many more questions/observations, but I don't want to flood you.
I suppose the only answer to these is Google. :)
And keep asking on the forum.
markfilipak
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Re: Tasks running before they are launched? ...How?

Post by markfilipak »

RichardH wrote:
markfilipak wrote:What's a "task bar tray"?
It's called a "Notification Area" in the panel...
Ah! I got rid of that on my Linux day-2. Got rid of the launchers too. In 'Panel' I have only 'Wiskers Menu' & 'Window Buttons'. I think it was the launchers that added all the dross to the 'Task Manager'. (The more seats at the multitasking dinner table, the slower the computer, eh?)
RichardH wrote:
markfilipak wrote:Task Manager shows 148 tasks running.
I like Chrome but browsers are a personal choice.
Yeah, I tired Chrome once. It took me 4 weeks to get all the Google spyware out of my system.
[regarding speed] RichardH wrote: ... Look in Settings > Window Manager Tweaks and turn off Compositing.
Yup. Did both on day-2. But don't stop with the hints. I just took out what was relatively obvious.
RichardH wrote:Then check Settings > Session & Startup. There are several things that could be unchecked and give better performance ini Vbox.
Okay, I'll give it a look-see. Thanks.
RichardH wrote:Make notes so you can turn it back on if it breaks something.
I like to live on the edge.
RichardH wrote:
markfilipak wrote:For example, one task is 'Thunar --xm-client-id 2f80a0943-f088-4694-81b7-cf134ab51d1d --daemon', which is eating 6 Mi-bytes! I don't even run 'Thunar'.
Well Thunar is handy for lots of things, mounting, as well as general file manager. I leave it running. Turning off all the things that add eye-candy usually reduces the load on the CPU without breaking other features.
If I can get to the point where 'Thunar' isn't running in a task even when it doesn't have a window, then sure, I'll keep it. Otherwise, it's history. As far as file management is concerned, I'm running 'Double Commander' for now.
RichardH wrote:
markfilipak wrote:I have many more questions/observations, but I don't want to flood you.
I suppose the only answer to these is Google. :)
I stopped using Google -- too much tracking using revectoring through Google servers. I'm using DuckDuckGo now.
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Flemur
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Re: [Solved] Tasks running before they are launched? ...How?

Post by Flemur »

Is there any way to copy the display to the clipboard?

With an xfce4-terminal and the menu showing: menu -> Edit -> Select All; then Copy.
Please edit your original post title to include [SOLVED] if/when it is solved!
Your data and OS are backed up....right?
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